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Overcome 'feast or famine' in your product retail business! · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

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Have you ever had a record breaking month followed by total
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silence? You're not alone. If your sales feel
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like a rollercoaster with highs and then worrying
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lows, then this episode will help you understand why it happens
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and what you can do to finally break the cycle.
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Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan. I'm Catherine Edley and in the
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next few minutes, you're about to get powerful real world retail strategies
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from insights shared both from my guests and myself, backed up by
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my 25 years in the retail industry. Keep listening to learn how
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to grow a thriving, profitable product business. Let's jump in
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with this latest episode. A few weeks ago I was having a chat with a
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lovely founder. She just had her best month ever.
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Absolutely flying. She had a new product launch, she had lots of interest
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and lots of sales. But then two weeks later,
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later she had crickets, nothing. Sales dried up
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almost overnight. And even though she knew she hadn't done
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anything wrong, and she certainly wasn't doing anything different than she had been when things
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had been working well, then the self doubt really started to creep
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in. She said to me, I thought I'd cracked it. I
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thought I'd finally figured out what my customer wanted. I thought I'd finally started
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to get that momentum going and now I feel like I've
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lost my momentum and I don't know how to get it back. And then
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that's the thing about fluctuating sales. It's not just about
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cash flow. It can really knock your confidence and you start
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questioning everything. Was it a fluke? Am I doing something wrong?
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And probably the number one question that crosses people's minds when
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sales are slow, which is will the sales ever pick back
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up? Let's talk about why this
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sort of thing happens. So why do people
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have sales spikes followed by lulz?
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The reality is, is that most retail is
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extremely variable and you are seeing it more
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because the likelihood is that your volumes aren't huge
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yet. So the slightest variation in sales can
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really feel like a very big variation. And
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I've worked for many retailers for many years and I've worked with
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many clients. And even in the big retailers, even in the
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ones that were turning over a couple of billion dollars in sales
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every year, there would be quiet days and there would be busy
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days. For example, when I worked in the US I was managing a chain of
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over 550 stores. Then one store would have a quiet day, but another
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store would have a busy day. And between the two of them, it would even
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out. So first of all, just to Say that a certain degree of
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fluctuations are completely normal.
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Sometimes we see a bit of a dip in the middle of the month or
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getting towards payday. Payday does still have an impact.
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Not as big as it used to be, but it does still happen. Basically,
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there isn't a certain element to which you're going to see things
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shifting day to day, week to week. And the lower
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your sales overall, the more it's going to feel like a big
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fluctuation. Because if two sales is really
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big for you, then you can imagine that a day where you sell two versus
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a day we sell zero is going to feel very, very different. Putting aside
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for a moment the fact that a lot of the time in retail it just
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does fluctuate and you don't always know why. Often what
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we see is it starts with a spike. When I was talking to people, for
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example, the founder, who'd had their best month ever, and then crickets,
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what actually happened was they launched something new. They were
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super excited about it. It was something that they found they really wanted
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to get onto their social media, talk to their customers
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about it. They just felt very energized and
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really enthusiastic, and therefore they were
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naturally showing up and connecting with their audience. And
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often when people see these spikes, these peaks and troughs,
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then the reality is either it was just a very busy time of year, for
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example, it was Christmas, or maybe they were doing some
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kind of stock clearance event or deal, so
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that was getting people to buy. Or maybe they had a launch that they felt
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really excited about and then naturally were overcoming what many,
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many people have, which is a natural aversion to actively selling.
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So they had something that meant that there was sales. But then things
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got busy. They're fulfilling orders, they're juggling everything
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else, and they didn't have a plan in place to keep the
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momentum going. So once that kind of natural burst of
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activity happened and was over, there
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wasn't anything to help keep them going. So their
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energy fizzled out because they were doing it all on
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a very ad hoc basis. And once the energy
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fizzles out and maybe the sales start to dip, then if that
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confidence wobble comes in, then it can create this
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vicious cycle, or the cycle of doom. I often refer
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to it the cycle of doom, where confidence drops
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so you're taking less action, so your sales go
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down, so your confidence drops so you take less action, and so on and
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so forth. The cycle then maybe will start again.
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When you feel excited about something, something, or you have a launch,
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or again, it's your Peak time of year, maybe Christmas for a
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lot of people will be their peak time of year. Or back to school could
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be another one. Or January if you're in the fitness business or
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you have anything to do with weddings, because often wedding interest peaks
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in January. It can then mean that
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you're not only feeling less
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confident, but in a way, because you've been through this cycle, it can leave
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you feeling very confused as to why was it working and why is it not
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working now. So the feast and famine, as I said, it can be something that
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can be really, really exhausting for a lot of people and really
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difficult.
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So what are some signs that you might be stuck in the feast or famine
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cycle? So the first sign I'd say is that
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sales really follows your energy. So what I mean by that is, is that
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if you are showing up when you've got something new or
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exciting that you're really fired up to talk about and
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people respond to it, but when you don't know what to say,
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you disappear. That is a really big warning sign for
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me when I'm talking to founders to say, okay, there's something going on here.
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If you're allowing yourself to effectively
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be governed by your energy level, as it were, when it comes to your
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sales. So when it's exciting, when you've got something to talk
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about, you're showing up and you are selling.
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Or maybe again, it's your peak time of year and therefore sales
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maybe feel a little bit easier, then you're showing up. But
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when you don't know what to say, then all of a sudden your energy fizzles
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out. The second sign that you're stuck in a feast or
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famine cycle is that your marketing is reactive.
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So you wake up, decide what to post on that day. It's not part
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of a bigger picture. And probably if I asked
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you what your overall marketing strategy was, then you would
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be pushed to say you. Maybe it's like, okay, well, I know I need
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to talk about this, but I don't really know how all of the pieces connect
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together. And I am basically just deciding week on week,
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what do I feel like talking about today. And then the third
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sign, or the third kind of red flag, if you like, for being stuck in
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feast or famine cycles, is that you're not taking advantage
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of seasonal cycles. So what I mean
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by that is, is that it's very important for you as a business
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owner to not only understand your customer, not
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only to think about what they want in general, to really have a good
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understanding of what that customer wants. But you really need to be
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thinking about what does your customer want right
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now. And that's because
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ultimately, at the end of the day, retail is a game of
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probability. It's about you talking about the things that
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your customer is most likely to want from you at this
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particular point. So if it is October
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and the nights are drawing in and it's getting colder, what is your
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customer most likely going to want from you? Well, they're most likely
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to want things that relate to the changing season.
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So they may want things that will help them stay warm. They may want
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things that will make their house feel cozy and warm. They
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may well want things that are to do with
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Christmas because they're super organized or they're on a very tight budget
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and they want to spread their Christmas spending across the a few
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months as opposed to doing it all in one go. They might be thinking
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about Halloween. They might be thinking about
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making their home feel more autumnal, seasonal
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decorating. They may be thinking about updating their
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wardrobe with something that is appropriate for the
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winter season, getting their knitwear out and assessing if they've got
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everything they need to get them through the winter. If you sell
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equipment or outdoor sports, then
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your customer is going to be thinking about what do they need as the weather
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gets colder that they maybe don't have or maybe
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had last year, but needs replacing? For me, one of the
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red flags is when people just aren't factoring all of this into
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their forward planning. Maybe they're waking up in October and
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thinking, oh, maybe I should talk about my cold weather accessories, for
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example. But they're not getting it planned out in
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advance. Retail, as I've said before, it does
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fluctuate a lot, but it also does repeat year on year. So it's really
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important to get that plan into place. So let's flip this
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and look at it from a different perspective. What does
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actually create consistent sales? And
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the thing is that it's about creating a
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system. It's not about pushing harder or
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constantly launching. It's about building a sales
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system that can operate whether or not
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you're in the middle of a launch or whether or not you've come out of
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the launch. And it includes things like
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it's about building a sales system that can
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operate whether or not you're in the middle of a launch or
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whether or not you've come out of the launch. And it
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includes things like planning your sales calendar in advance,
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tying together your product launches and your marketing messages so
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that the two are working together, having a really clear Idea
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about what conversation you want to have every single week with your
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customer as you move through the year, knowing what your best
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sellers are and helping you focus your marketing there,
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Making sure that you can consistently talk to your customer across
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all touch points. And one of the best ways to do that is via
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email. So making sure that you're building and actually using your email list.
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And this is really important, creating a
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rhythm that doesn't rely on your energy or your
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mood. So what do I mean by that? Well, at the
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moment, an example I can give you, unrelated to retail,
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but relevant here, I feel, is that I'm currently training for
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the Valencia Marathon in December. I have got a plan. I
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have a training plan. And what that means is
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that I know in a particular week what I need
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to run in order to work towards my larger goal.
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Does that mean that I don't wake up some mornings, maybe many
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mornings, and think, ah, I'd really rather not run today? No,
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absolutely not. There are definitely days where I wake up, especially now it's
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darker in the morning, and I think, oh, you know what I really could
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do with giving this a miss. But I've got a plan.
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So I am able to say, right, the most important
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thing is I stick to the plan. I'm letting go of the outcome,
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but I've got a plan and I just have to execute on the plan.
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It's not about my motivation, it's not about the mood that I'm
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in when I wake up. It's about me knowing that I've got a plan, I've
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got a series of things I need to do and that that is working towards
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this bigger goal and it's effectively removing the mental
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friction so I don't wake up and think to myself, I wonder how far I
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should run today. I wonder what would be the best thing for me to do.
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Because that is often for many of us,
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where the block comes in. Because as soon
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as we're able to sort of say, oh, well, I don't really know what I'm
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doing, not really sure, then we almost
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immediately are able to talk ourselves out of doing something thing. Whereas
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I know I'm gonna wake up and I have to run 13km
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and this is the paces that I'm aiming for. Whether or not I hit them
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is another question. But this is what I'm aiming for, then I know that
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I just have to get up, get out and do it. And having a sales
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plan can be like that as well. Because many people, as I mentioned
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earlier, it's not something that is their natural wheelhouse. They
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don't naturally wake up every day and think, I know what I want to do,
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I want to sell my products. Most people, they love the creative side of their
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business, they love selecting the products, they love talking to
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their customers, they love the whole idea of
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having the product business. Whether or not they love the
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actual selling is another question. But if you've got a plan, if
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you've got a plan mapped out for you of what you're going to talk about,
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it removes that mental friction. It stops
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you waking up and wondering what on earth you're supposed to do that day and
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then wandering off and doing something, something else. Because we naturally
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gravitate towards the tasks that we find the easiest in our
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business. 100%. I see it time and time again.
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Whatever you enjoy the most, you will naturally gravitate towards. If
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you don't have a plan, if you're relying on energy or inspiration, the
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chances are you'll only show up when you're really excited and then you'll go
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quiet again when you either get busy or the launch has passed, or the peak
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season's past. And then you don't really know what to do. Say so. Then the
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momentum dies and the confidence takes a hit. But when you've got a
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system that supports you, one that's really sustainable, simple,
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repeatable, then everything starts to feel calmer. You show
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up more, you start to build trust with your customers and then you can start
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to look at the different ways of growing sales and the sales start to smooth
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out. So if you want to know more about the different ways to grow your
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sales in your product business, do go check out episode number 264
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of the podcast, which is called Four Ways to Grow your sales, where I go
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into more detail into the different ways that you can grow.
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But just know that if you have a plan, then you're able to
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really work on all four of those elements and then
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that helps you grow your sales overall. As I said, build that
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momentum and grow your trust with your customers.
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So if you are sitting here thinking this sounds awfully
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familiar, I'm pretty sure that I am scattergun
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with my approach. Maybe you are noticing
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that you're in the feast and famine, then I definitely recommend
15:16
checking out the retail sales game plan. It is my
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brand new 16 week program designed just for product
15:24
business owners like you. And right now we have the wait list open.
15:28
So if you head to resilient retail club.com
15:31
waitlist, you'll get £50 off when the doors open
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plus early access and some juicy bonuses as well.
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So if you are listening and thinking, yes, I really need someone to
15:42
walk me through this process, putting together a plan, looking at
15:46
my business, looking at the different ways of growing my sales, how to make it
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smoother and more consistent. Then you definitely want to head over
15:53
to resilient retail club.com waitlist and
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get on the list for the retail sales sales game plan. We will be kicking
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off in early November. We will get you sorted out
16:05
right away for your Christmas plans and then we will be together
16:09
until the end of February in
16:12
2026 and we'll have time to work together on putting
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together that plan for the whole of 2026,
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planning that out and giving you a really great start and a way to
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make your sales more calm and consistent. Because that's what we want.
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We want to get off the roller coaster and into the driver's seat. We
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want to go from feast and famine to calm and repeatable
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sales. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If this
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today's episode has hit home, feel free to share it with a friend who
16:42
you think would benefit. Or why not tag me over on Instagram at Resilient
16:45
Retail Club. I love to see where people are listening in when they're listening to
16:48
the podcast. And as always, I'll see you next time week.